1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to electronic monetary systems used to process the electronic equivalent of cash or other currency; and more particularly, to an anonymous credit card purchasing system and method.
2. Description of the Prior Art
Various credit card systems are described in the prior art. U.S. Pat. No. 5,511,121 to Yacobi discloses an electronic cash system that protects the privacy of users in legitimate transactions while at the same time enabling the detection of a double spender of the same electronic coin. The electronic cash system takes advantage of a unique property of El Gamal signatures to achieve these results. This system requires the user to use electronic money modules, and requires a processor that makes it a complicated and costly system.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,924,084 to De Rooij relates to a method for tracing payment data in an anonymous payment system having electronic payment means, such as so-called “smart cards”. According to the invention, the user commits himself to a value, which may later be used for the tracing by a payment institution. The value is preferably recorded with the help of a so-called one-way function and an electronic signature, so that the payment institution does not dispose of the value itself, but is able to verify it on the basis of the stored derivative of the value. The invention further relates to a payment means and a payment system for application of the method. This system requires the user to use a smart card having a processor, resulting in a complicated and costly system.
U.S. Pat. No. 3,971,916 to Moreno relates to a data-transfer system. Data, for example, relating to a bank account, is carried on the person in the form of a small portable means such as a flat card containing encapsulated logic microstructures. The circuitry includes a memory and its control circuits, with inhibitor means preventing access to predetermined sections of the memory. This system, like that of De Rooij, requires the presence of a smart card having a processor, making it complicated and costly.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,864,830 to Armetta, et al. discloses a data-processing method by which one or more prepaid satellite spending cards are configured and linked to a cardholder's host credit card or card account such that a predetermined available spending capacity of each satellite card is selectively determined by the cardholder of the host credit card. The prepaid amount is deducted from the available balance of the host card or card account and limits the total spending capacity of the satellite card. The main cardholder may also remotely selectively increase the available spending capacity of the one or more satellite cards by deducting the desired additional spending capacity of each satellite card from the available balance of the host credit card as a purchase against the host card account. Although this method does not require a smart card, it necessitates use of a host credit card. Accordingly, it cannot guarantee anonymity of the user.
There remains a need in the art for a simple anonymous credit card system. Such a system, if provided, would be especially suited for purchasing gifts, drugs, services such as pregnancy tests and items having adult oriented content.